650 VERTEBRATA. 
SHOOTING PECCABIKS lH SOUTH AMERICA. 
sive forests, and dwelling in the hollows of trees or the deserted burrows of other animals. When 
living in the vicinity of towns and Tillages, Ayhich, however, is rare, they do great mischief among 
the fields of Indian corn, sugar-cane, manihot, and potatoes. 
The Collared Peccary, D. torquatus, is the Patira of Sonnini and the Taytetou of Azara, 
It is rather less than three feet long and seldom weighs over fifty pounds. Its general color is a 
yellowish-gray; a whitish line runs clown the shoulder obliquely toward the neck resembling a 
collar, thus giving its distinctive name. This species lives in pairs or small families, usually con- 
tinning to inhabit the same forests in which it was born. Its odor is so strong as to infect the air 
through w^hich the herds pass, and hence the hunters are able to trace them by their scent. 
The White-lipped Peccary — the proper Peccdry of South America, the Tagnicati of Azara — 
D. laUatus, is larger than the preceding ; it is also of a thicker and stouter form, with shorter 
legs and a longer snout. The color is a blackish-gray ; the under lip, sides of the mouth, and 
upper surface of the nose, white. The young are faintly sti-iped. This species lives in large 
bands, sometimes amounting to a thousand, and stretching out for a league, migrates from one dis- 
trict to another. If they come across a plantation they devastate it by rooting up its crops ; 
when they meet any thing unusual they are thrown into great alarm, which they express by a 
clatter of the teeth. If a hunter ventures to attack one of these herds, he is sure to be torn in 
pieces by the infuriated throng, unless he take to a tree or escape by flight. When excited by 
rage their eyes flash, they rub their snouts together, erect their bristles, and fill the air with their 
cries. This species is said to have a less offensive smell than the preceding. 
